DARLINGTON FIRM PLOTTING DIGITAL SCALE-UP AFTER OFFICE MOVE

An estate agency has broken tradition by relocating from Darlington’s high street into a business centre in a bid to scale-up digitally.

Westpark Estate Agents, now based in Darlington’s Business Central, moved to the centre due to a change in the market in which their customers began largely operating online, according to the firm’s owner, Carol Chandler.

Ms Chandler, who has worked in the estate agency sector throughout her career, took control of Westpark in 2005. And throughout the years, her team were involved in the selling of residential property until last year when they decided to focus on residential lettings.

The firm now advertise property online on behalf of landlords as well as offer a tenant acquisition service, and Ms Chandler says that their office move was necessary to focus on boosting their sales and presence online. The firm previously relied largely on the footfall from the high street.

She said: “Looking at how things have changed over the years, it’s a case of moving with the times and Business Central is a great place to operate digitally.

“The footfall is sadly no longer there on the high street but we saw the office move as an opportunity to relaunch our brand.

“Just in our first few months here we have been able to collaborate with other business owners which resulted in us having a new website built to advertise our available properties.

“Everything is done online these days and with an increased presence on social media, we seem to be getting more and more business.”

Speaking on what her clients thought of the move, Ms Chandler added:

“Our clients haven’t really noticed that we’ve changed address, until they go online or call us to book an appointment.

“When our clients do arrive here they’re greeted at reception and they’re impressed by the facilities in the building – which is great as customer care is also very important to us.”

Business Central’s Centre Manager, Vanessa Wood, commented: “With Darlington itself continuing to attract a cluster of digital and creative businesses, it’s great to see a firm born in Darlington also trying to embrace their potential online.

“I wish Carol and her team the best of luck with their new-found growth strategy and I’m confident they’ll be able to achieve their goals from within our centre.”

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